Korg Kronos Doesn't Boot up

[witmer26]

Hi. I have a Korg Kronos and 95% of the time it stops booting at the S in "Music" which appears to be a common freeze spot. Took it to authorized dealer but they couldn't figure it out. Searching this forum I checked the following:

1) Loose screws
2) Reinserted RAM plushly.
3) Checked that fan is working
4) Checked for loose wires / connections
5) Checked gold pin integrity.
6) Checked for general damage

Any idea on where to go from here (besides returning to service center?). Also, the two inputs for audio recording are out (static when recording a mic) but that has been the case for awhile and the keyboard still booted fine.

Noticed the red/black wire connector in the below pic is disconnected but perhaps that is by design?

On a separate note, the SSD thick Red Cable didn't seem disconnected.

A few more images of keyboard are here:
https://keyboard-images.webflow.io/

Many thanks for any advice,
Mark

[KK]

Everything looks fine from the pics at first glance. The free connector is for a second SSD, so nothing wrong there either. The boot-up sequence freezes pretty early, so my first suspicion would be about the motherboard or one of its components, but I could be wrong.

Personally, if it's someone at Korg service who referred you that "authorized dealer", I would call them back quickly to tell them there are not able to fix your unit, which doesn't make much sense to me. Of course, this is not Korg's fault, but again if it was their advice they have to know that this place is not worth being called an authorized service center and that they must provide you another place where they can fix it.

[GregC]

give more detail and history on your K

which model, what year purchased. ?

Purchased new or used ?

Do you gig or was it gigged prior.

tell us about your SSD - all of them, and whats available

History and details provides more clues. Since we are not there in person

[kronoSphere]

Maybe your hard drive might need to be reformatted

[Ksynth]

Unplug all USB cables.

Unplug power cable

Wait a few seconds. Plug power cable in again.

Try rebooting.

If it works now plug in USB cables again.

[HardSync]

Last week you were attempting to upgrade to the latest OS. Did you perform the upgrade? If so, I wonder if that has something to do with it. Did you have this problem before upgrading?

[witmer26]

Hi. Many thanks for the support. I will respond to each comment in this message:

The keyboard was purchased three years ago and kept for home studio use only without traveling/jostling. It was purchased used from a recording studio that was smoke free in California.

The model is Kronos X 88 key. I believe I upgraded the RAM to the max. however the upgrade was in place for two years and had no issues up until recently. The SSD is factory issued.

I had used both O.S. 2 and 3 before the problem began, and after the problem began as a way to see if the problem would occur on both the previous and latest O.S. It performs the same on either O.S. version.

Tried reformatting harddrive but did not work. Scanned USB flashdrives connected for viruses and unplugged them; they were clean.

The only thing I can think is that whatever damage was done previously to the audio inputs (input 1 and 2 are nothing but static), perhaps the same thing that caused that got worse and caused the boot issue. Hard to tell since the audio input recording sideboard is on top of another smaller motherboard component.

I will take it back to the repair shop (four hours away) but this forum will/has provide(d) me some guidance and knowledge to assist with assessing the issue. Many thanks!

Mark

[witmer26]

Was able to get it to boot five times in a row with no issues now after doing the following. Took the thick red hard drive cable and disconnected from SATO 0 on the motherboard and connected to SATO 1. Although the connection did not appear damaged or disconnected, this single act has resulted in five consecutive boots. Hopefully this lasts.

[Docewil]

Thx-Did the trick here too. My Kronos booted only each second time.
Now it seams to boot each time!

[The Hiryuu]

Was able to get it to boot five times in a row with no issues now after doing the following. Took the thick red hard drive cable and disconnected from SATO 0 on the motherboard and connected to SATO 1. Although the connection did not appear damaged or disconnected, this single act has resulted in five consecutive boots. Hopefully this lasts.

I'll have to try this, as I've been having the same issue and really didn't feel like taking it in to my tech (Who also couldn't 100% diagnose the problem, just "tightened all the components he could" and that managed to get it working for a year or two)

[GregC]

Wats.

I'll have to try this, as I've been having the same issue and really didn't feel like taking it in to my tech (Who also couldn't 100% diagnose the problem, just "tightened all the components he could" and that managed to get it working for a year or two)

I know its not easy for a tech to work on a Kronos when the problem is intermittent. The problem is Not your tech, IMO.

try the fix and post back. Thanks

[The Hiryuu]

I know its not easy for a tech to work on a Kronos when the problem is intermittent. The problem is Not your tech, IMO.

try the fix and post back. Thanks

I know, I wasn't blaming him or anything. More stating that I didn't feel like paying $60 to do something that might have a quick fix I could do for free.

For the record, it worked (for now at least?)

[musiccankill]

For all of you having booting problems and you have checked everything else i would suggest to try changing the sata cable with a new one.
Most of the times it is not the port that has loosen but the contacts on the cable.
I have had this problem on a lot of Intel ATOM boards like the one the kronos has and every single time, changing the cable with a new one (less than 2 euros here) worked and still works after years...
Changing to the second port of the motherboard worked too some times but it started occurring again after some months.

[witmer26]

As anticipated, the issue eventually recurred. I changed the SATA red cable out with a new one. Now I use it daily and have been without issues for weeks (it works). Thanks a lot!

[KK]

Hi witmer,

Thanks for your follow-up, it will be useful for sure to other Kronos owners.